World Interactions
by another wannabe author
Summary: A series of oneshots concerning Naruto, Sasuke, and friends. A little bit cheesy. Kinda NaruSasuNaru.
1. Games

Summary: A series of oneshots concerning the obstacles, intricacies and disputes of Naruto and Sasuke's peculiar relationship that isn't quite friendship but can't be anything else. A little bit NaruSasuNaru.

-x-

"What's the most embarrassing fart you've ever done?"

"Pass."

"Ugh… fine… have you ever… seen Kakashi naked?"

"Pass."

Naruto, not very patient to begin with, had lost all patience for Sasuke three years ago. "You can't pass on every single question!"

"You said I have three passes," Sasuke countered.

"Yeah, well, now you've used two," he said, as if Sasuke didn't already know, folding his arms behind his head as he relaxed once more on the grass. "Sheesh… it's hard to come up with good questions, you know…"

Sasuke was lying next to him in the opposite direction, their heads by each other's shoulders. "Not my problem. You're the one who wanted to play."

It was late afternoon and the sun would soon set. After a grueling sparring match (as they always were) with no determinable winner of the two (as there never was), the boys had collapsed onto the grass after demolishing a substantial expanse of land (as they always did). Sweaty, sore and content with this, after catching their breath, Naruto had initiated a game of questions Sasuke had never played before. It seemed rather trivial, as there was no aim to the 'game' and all you did was ask your companion things that didn't matter, but it was a nice way to pass the time before Sasuke had to return to his cell for the evening. Lately he'd been allowed to roam free in Konoha, as long as Naruto was with him (his designated probation officer for nearly six months now), and compared to solitude the question game was rather a nice activity to engage in.

"Okay, I've got one," said Naruto confidently. "If someone offered you all the money in the Konoha treasury, would you make out with Itachi?"

"Okay, first of all, gross – he's dead and he's my _brother_. Second of all, pass."

Naruto let out a frustrated cry and flailed his feet on the spot. "Are you serious? I can't think of anything else!"

Annoyed at Naruto's idiocy (which he often seemed to be), Sasuke said, "Then I'll go while you think of a question. We'll take turns."

Naruto calmed down and his flailing ceased. Sasuke could never comprehend how easily he swung between moods.

"…Fine," Naruto agreed, mildly sullen.

Sasuke closed his eyes and tried to think of something. It had to be a 'best friend' question, Naruto had told him when they first started the game. Since they already knew so much about each other, Naruto explained that the game would be pointless if they didn't ask difficult or potentially embarrassing questions that they definitely wouldn't (and might not want to) know about each other. Naruto ignored it when Sasuke said they weren't best friends, because he knew Sasuke was just an asshole.

Sasuke settled for an embarrassing question he didn't particularly want to know but was guiltily curious about, nonetheless. "The last time you jerked off, who did you think about?"

"The Mizukage," Naruto replied unflinchingly.

Sasuke looked at him, disgusted. "Ew, you actually do it?"

Instantly, Naruto was on the defensive. "Oh sure, like you don't do it too!"

"I'm not that desperate."

"Yeah, not _that_ desperate, but desperate enough that you'd cuddle up to your sensei in your sleep!"

"Oh. My. _God_. That was _one time _– I was asleep after a _really long mission,_ and I thought Kakashi was a pillow and I was _twelve_, plus it was pretty cramped to begin with – would you just drop it already!"

"Well I wouldn't have time to think of all these embarrassing ghosts from your past if you'd bothered to answer my questions!" Naruto countered.

"Fine! I've used up my passes, whatever you ask next, I'll answer it."

Naruto looked over at Sasuke, skeptical. "…Promise? And you have to answer truthfully."

"Whatever," he replied, frowning at the sky.

"Promise!"

"Okay, I promise, you retard."

Pleased with this response, Naruto's mood went from sour to cheerful in a matter of milliseconds, humming as he thought out his next question. "Oh, okay I got it, ready?"

Sasuke merely gave him that look, which was supposed to and never failed to insult Naruto.

Pouting, he asked, "Alright princess, who would you kiss, marry or ditch out of Ino, Hinata and Sakura?"

Sasuke's look only intensified. "Are you serious? That's the best you can come up with?"

"Hey, at least my questions aren't filthy like yours! And you promised to answer, _truthfully_, so quit whining and tell me!"

Sasuke sighed and turned away from him, looking once more to the sky. The sun was beginning to set and the first hues of orange and purple were distinguishing themselves from the blue.

"…If I _have_ to choose," Sasuke began after a long silence, "I'd kiss Ino, marry Hinata and ditch Sakura, I guess."

Naruto sat up so fast his back cracked, looking offended on what must have been Sakura's behalf. "What? Seriously? How come? Why ditch Sakura?"

Sasuke shrugged and sat up, also. "Hinata is the only one I could tolerate being with for the rest of my life, or until she dies, which would be acceptable—" Naruto looked horrified, "—and Ino's slutty so she's probably a good kisser." He turned away.

"Yeah, but why ditch Sakura? Sakura's pretty!" he said defensively, growing louder with each word.

"It's nothing to do with that," came Sasuke's pacifying reply. "Just, she's my teammate and I've known her forever… so it would be weird."

Naruto leaned in threateningly. "So, you get along well with Sakura, which is why you can't marry her? That makes no sense, asshole!"

Aggravated, Sasuke's voice rose, also. "Why are you getting pissed anyway! I wouldn't want to kiss or marry Sakura because I like how things are now! I don't want to kiss or marry Sakura because she's my friend, okay?" Sasuke seethed, his face inches from Naruto's, teeth bared.

"Oh," said Naruto, accepting this instantly and lying back down on the grass. Sasuke looked at him in disbelief, his face one big smile that said he was already over the dispute that Sasuke was just getting worked up on.

Slowly, Sasuke lowered himself back onto the ground and frowned. He frowned because he was mad, and because Naruto wasn't, which just made him madder. Blowing one of many unkempt hairs from his face, he calmed down slightly upon seeing the darkening sky. The sun was setting on Naruto's side, long fingers of light stretched out through the clouds. There was no view of the sky from a prison cell.

"Hey, Sasuke?"

He grunted to show he was listening, anger lost.

"Okay, well if I'm your friend, then would you kiss, marry or ditch me?"

Sasuke blushed so suddenly he could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. He reached out and punched Naruto on the arm, hard enough to bruise, ignoring the cry of outrage he received for doing so.

"It's not your turn," he said smugly.

(The end.)


	2. Relationships

Chouji never thought he'd see the day when he lost his appetite, especially over something like this; however, the day had arrived, quite unexpectedly, and now he was looking despondently between his two double serving bento lunches and the group of girls fawning insatiably over Sasuke Uchiha.

Girls would never look at him that way, he thought, eyeing one in particular who had just turned red from lack of oxygen and crumpled to the floor. Perhaps the extremity of Sasuke's fangirls was not something he should pine after, a small voice in his mind suggested. It was promptly overruled by his insecurity.

Pulling his gaze from the large gathering of giggling ladies, he snapped the lid of his bento back into place and set it down on the bench. Folding his arms, he determinedly ignored his growling stomach in favour of sitting and doing nothing. Although Chouji had never managed to skip a meal on occasions similar to this one, especially his favourite meal lunch (other than brunch and afternoon breakfast, two very different things), he stubbornly told himself this time would be different because he had the screaming girls not fifty meters away to simultaneously embarrass and motivate him.

Closing his eyes, he focused all his attention on the hungry screams of tittering girls. Their desperate catcalls. Squeals of desire. Disappointed groans… wait, what?

Chouji opened his eyes and saw that Sasuke had ditched the girls and run off somewhere to hide. The group slowly dissipated before his eyes, and soon, there was nobody around but him and his two double boxed lunches. And they were calling to him.

Eyes widening, he saw that his hand had crept towards the bento of its own accord. He slapped it with his other. "No! You know we can't…"

It was rather a nice day out, and looking at the crisp blue sky Chouji remembered why he'd decided to have lunch outside in the first place. Technically, if he didn't eat his lunch _now_, he'd be wasting this beautiful day. Chouji was a lot of things, but he wasn't wasteful.

Before he was fully conscious of his actions, the taste of salted hand-made rice balls filled his mouth, and instantly Chouji felt guilty. So easily he'd given in to food. Continuing to chew miserably (and at a frightening rate), Chouji tried to let the taste of food override his guilt, but for the first time, the food didn't help. Replacing the rice ball, he looked down at his lunch and sighed.

"Never thought I'd see an Akimichi turn down his food," a quiet voice interrupted.

Chouji jumped and almost choked on his mouthful of rice, whipping around to see Sasuke leaning casually against the edge of the bench, a single grocery bag dangling from his wrist, filled with (strangely) nothing but tomatoes. Naruto flanked his left, grinning as he mutely chowed into one of four squid skewers Sasuke had evidently treated him to in order to shut him up.

"Yo, Chouji!" Naruto greeted, his words muffled around the half-chewed mush in his mouth. "Whacha doin ouwt here wiff two lunches? Waitin on swomeone?"

Chouji blushed and turned back to his food, which suddenly looked much less appetising. "Uh… yeah, I was just waiting on… Shikamaru," he lied.

Naruto made a noise, chewing a few more times before gasping for breath, as if his response needed to be said as soon as possible.

"Well we just bumped into Shikamaru and he said he was on his way to a mission so I guess he forgot to tell you," he said in one breath. Then, sheepishly, he slid in beside Chouji and grabbed the second unopened lunchbox. "Looks like we got here just in time!"

Chouji didn't object when Naruto lifted off the lid, making awed sounds at the delicious array of food, because Naruto did this quite often anyway. He stuffed two of the squid into his mouth in one go, using the skewers as chopsticks.

"Thank you for the food!" he shouted, digging in.

Sasuke grunted and slipped into the seat across from Chouji, setting his tomatoes down on the surface. Chouji laced his fingers together in his lap, unsure what to say. Naruto was preoccupied and he wasn't exactly friends with Sasuke, not to mention Sasuke was just staring at him blankly, so it was a tad awkward.

Naruto's appreciative eating noises as their background music, Chouji attempted conversation. "So… shopping, huh?"

Sasuke made a little grunting noise again, and Chouji realised this was how Sasuke responded to things.

"Cool," he continued, glancing at the bag. "…Tomatoes, eh?"

Sasuke looked at him like he was stupid. Chouji stared down at his folded hands, his earlier self-consciousness returning. He didn't understand what all the girls saw in Sasuke. Was it because he was such a jackass? Maybe girls liked spiky hair? Glancing up at Sasuke out of the corner of his eye, Chouji compared them, but the only thing that made sense to him was that Sasuke was physically fit, and Chouji was not. Unable to help it, Chouji sighed again, scratching his fingernail against the edge of the table.

"What's with that look?" Sasuke asked, taking Chouji by surprise.

He blinked and looked up at him, unsure what to say. "Nothing, really…"

"You look pretty miserable," he noted.

Chouji sighed again. "Well, no, it's just… I saw you earlier, and… I suppose I'm just a bit jealous of you," he admitted bashfully.

Sasuke looked surprised. Naruto looked scandalised. Gulping down what had to have been too much food at once, he burst onto his feet, pointing an outraged finger directly between Chouji's eyes.

"Now wait a minute!" he screeched, "Why would you be jealous of that bastard and not me, eh? _Eh?"_

Chouji held up two placating hands and Sasuke pushed Naruto back down into his seat, giving him a flat look.

"It's not to do with strength," Chouji explained, and Naruto calmed down considerably, "although you're both very strong. In all honesty, I'm feeling down thinking about how no girl will probably ever want to marry me, whereas Sasuke could marry any of the girls in the village if he wanted to. All you have to do is tell them you like them and they'll fall at your feet…"

Chouji looked down at his hands again, face flushed. Naruto rambled on for a few minutes about how the girls were far more interested in him before Sasuke took Naruto's chopsticks and helped himself to an egg roll. Gaping, Naruto screamed at him to give it back, clenching Sasuke's jaw in his fist and demanding he spit it out, until Sasuke looked him right in the eyes and swallowed it, completely unfazed. Naruto made outraged noises and snatched the bento a safe distance away, cradling it to his chest as he muttered about 'ungrateful bastards who think they can do whatever they want'. Watching the two, Chouji couldn't help his growing smile, which turned into soft laughs. Soon Naruto started laughing too, transgressions of present company forgotten, and even Sasuke let his lips stretch a little, though he turned away.

When the laughter subsided, Sasuke cleared his throat.

"Chouji," he said seriously.

Chouji blinked at him. "Yeah?"

"You're wrong, you know."

"Huh?"

"That's not true," Sasuke elaborated. "Although it's true that there are girls who would probably accept my proposition for a date and get excited in my presence, you'll find that most of them don't see me as 'marriage material'."

Now Chouji looked at him like he was the idiot.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto asked, much more serious than before.

Sasuke appeared thoughtful for a moment before continuing. "Well, I'm only repeating a snippet of conversation between Sakura and Ino, but both claimed the kind of guy they'd like to marry would have to be loyal, kind, sweet and affectionate. I am none of those things," he said plainly.

"Oh," Naruto said, nodding, "well, at least you know it."

Sasuke gave him a look before turning back to Chouji. "What I mean is, my only appeal is my aloof demeanour and 'bad-boy' attitude."

"And apparently your looks," Naruto interjected, "but I think that's a load of crap, because as I've said before, you look like a skinny drug-addicted ghost with a dead bird on your head. If any of those girls hug you too tight you'll erode into dust."

Sasuke glared at Naruto and immediately he shut up, resuming his meal. Chouji covered up his smile with his hand.

"Anyway," continued Sasuke, "what I'm trying to say is, the novelty of those things won't last forever. One day I'm going to be an old man and they'll have lost interest. At the end of the day, girls look for men like you to marry, Chouji. So don't lose hope just because all the girls our age are still too immature to really know what kind of man they want. In time… just be patient. If anything, I should be jealous of you. If I ever want to get married it will probably take some serious character-building—"

Sasuke stopped short. Chouji and Naruto stared at him openly, a clump of chewed food falling from Naruto's mouth and onto his lap.

"I don't believe it," he said, straight-faced, "Sasuke Uchiha just comforted and complimented someone in _one day_? Don't hurt yourself, seriously, take it slow…"

He shook his head in disbelief and Chouji kept staring, a modest blush creeping across his cheeks. Sasuke huffed and folded his arms, turning away from them gruffly.

"For fuck's sake, I was just trying to be helpful. Forget it." Abruptly, he stood and skulked off in a bad mood.

"Uh… wait!" said Chouji, standing also.

Sasuke stopped but didn't turn to face him, waiting for him to continue.

"Um…" Chouji scratched his cheek, smiling brightly. "Thank you very much, I really appreciate it, Sasuke!"

A moment of pause and Sasuke shrugged before continuing on his way, much less brisk. Naruto screeched and gathered the bento in his arms, yelling over his shoulder that he'd return the box to Chouji next time he saw him and running after Sasuke, grocery bag of tomatoes flying out behind him in his haste. Chouji waved after them unsurely, looking down at his remaining lunchbox, particularly the rice balls. He grabbed one and took a huge bite.

-x-

hahaha what a cliché piece of shit. Run along now…


	3. Bonds

"We have a lot in common, you know."

Sasuke persisted in filing his mountains of paperwork; otherwise they'd never get done. Naruto often tried to distract Sasuke while he was working and by now he was adept at ignoring Naruto's idiocy. Sharingan activated, he skimmed the pages and etched them to memory for future reference, signing those he was permitted and setting aside the remaining Naruto needed to sign as Hokage.

"Sasuke? I'm talking to you."

"I'm aware."

"I said, we have a lot in common, you know that?"

Sasuke massaged his neck and turned to look out the window, deactivating his eyes. For three hours his head had been lowered as he signed every mission report and filed every complaint, invitation, letter. Sasuke felt he was entitled to a short break.

Elbows planted firmly on the edge of the desk, hands cradling his chin, Naruto's eyes followed every boring movement Sasuke made. Decidedly unnerving, however Naruto was terribly clingy (especially after the whole defecting fiasco which he simply refused to get over) and allowing him to stare at Sasuke to his heart's content was the only way to satiate said clinginess. Sasuke looked at Naruto out of the corner of his eye, who was keenly staring back.

"No," Sasuke said, "we don't."

"Really?" Naruto sounded surprised Sasuke thought so, schooling his features to hide his pleasure at having coaxed a reply. "Oh, well, I guess you're always too preoccupied doing boring stuff like filing paperwork to notice."

"First of all, this is _your_ paperwork, which I am only filing due to the very strict probation requirements I currently follow stating that I must assist you in your stupid Hokage-related undertakings – the probation which _you_ decided for me."

Sasuke swiveled around in his chair, his back to Naruto, arms folded over his chest. Naruto wasn't sure if Sasuke knew the only reason he'd made it part of his probation to help Naruto with his paperwork and such was so that they'd have more time together, but the way Sasuke was looking at him, he definitely suspected it.

"And secondly," Sasuke continued, "because of the fact that I do all your work for you, you have enough free time to delude yourself into thinking that we're anything alike."

Naruto hummed in neither agreement nor protest, pushing off the tabletop to circle the desk and situate himself on the floor in front of Sasuke's crossed legs.

"But we are," Naruto said simply.

"How?" Sasuke asked.

"Um, well…" Scratching his cheek, he averted his gaze. "I dunno, I can't think of something right now."

"Because you're wrong," Sasuke replied matter-of-factly. "If anything we're opposites."

This remark somehow came across as horribly offensive to Naruto.

"_What_?" he squawked.

"We're completely different," Sasuke continued. "You're excitable and social and nice to people, not to mention thick-headed and impulsive, while I'm—"

"Serious and boring and a jerk who thinks you're all high and mighty—"

"Focused and intelligent and have better things to do than sauntering aimlessly about and fraternising with everyday individuals," Sasuke finished.

"A Hokage has to get to know his citize—hey are you trying to say I'm stupid or something? I'm _focused_. I'm _intelligent_. And I'm very fraternising!"

Sasuke didn't reply because he was always a bit incapable of handling stupidity, angling his chair so that he could clearly see the view from the Hokage's tower. Sasuke found himself spending far too much time up here recently, mostly because he was otherwise incredibly bored without Naruto around, although he kept that tidbit of information to himself. It wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for him and Naruto to share common ground, but no matter which way he looked at them, Sasuke couldn't see any similarities.

"Even our colours are different," he said abruptly, encouraging Naruto to scoot on his backside along the floor until he was by Sasuke's side again. "For instance, you're bright, tanned, blonde and… orange, and I—"

"Look like a black and white film?" Naruto offered.

"…Am somewhat self-conscious about my pallour, and choose to wear this variety of clothing."

Naruto made thoughtful grunting noises and tossed his head side to side, as if Sasuke's argument held many flaws.

"We have a lot more in common than not," he insisted.

By now, Sasuke was growing frustrated. You could throw any amount of logic at Naruto, but if he believed with all his heart the ocean was really green there was no changing his mind. Sasuke never stopped trying, though.

"We're seriously opposites. We even have opposite opinions on whether or not we're opposites. Other than our geographical location we have absolutely nothing in common."

Naruto had slowly inched closer and was now jutting his chin into Sasuke's thigh, poking until Sasuke flapped him away.

"We're both human?" Naruto tried.

"Everybody is a human."

"No!" screeched Naruto. "Not aliens or mutants or science experiments gone wrong! That's actually racist!"

Sasuke gave him a look, returned with such ungrounded confidence that he was forced to believe Naruto was serious.

"Okay, fine," he conceded, "we both have one thing in common which we also happen to share with maybe three billion people on this planet."

Naruto counted off his fingers, flying through a streak of commonalities. "We live on earth, we're both twenty-three, we both basically act as the leaders of this village even though you're reluctant about it and technically you're on probation, we both went to the Academy, oh! And we're both from Konoha," he finished.

"These are very general things," Sasuke maintained, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Naruto looked at him like he was stupid. "Oh, yeah, I suppose everyone is a leader of this village, eh? _Eh_?"

"Shut up." Sasuke rolled his eyes at the leering Hokage and fleetingly thought that perhaps Konoha would be better off that way. "Obviously not, I meant everything else. There are plenty of twenty-year-olds—"

"We both speak the same language, we both use deodorant—" Naruto's eyes narrowed and he leaned in to sniff Sasuke. "—yeah, okay so we both use deodorant, and brush our teeth I assume, I can't be sure I'd have to breath check you…"

"I assure you, I maintain optimal hygiene," Sasuke said irritably.

Naruto looked briefly skeptical, then seemed to switch onto a new train of thought. "Oh, that's a good way to put it, we both maintain hygiene optimal – hold on, I need to write this down or something I'm on a roll."

Naruto scanned the scarcely decorated room before rising from the floor. Approaching the desk, he skimmed the contents of the tabletop before pushing it haphazardly out of the way, in search of writing implements. Sasuke choked on his own air and swiftly jumped to his feet, seething and swatting Naruto's hands out of the way then glaring him into a corner.

"I can't believe you – oh, great, now I have to organise _everything_ again," he muttered, sustaining optimum glare capacity.

"Sorry," said Naruto, scratching the back of his neck with a nervous smile.

Sasuke's glower lingered as he pulled open the top drawer to his right, fishing out a pen and blank piece of notepaper. Naruto's face lit up when he saw them, holding out his hands, telling him to 'gimme gimme!'. Sasuke frowned at his childishness and wondered how the village was still standing.

"If you insist upon writing it all down," Sasuke began, walking towards and sitting contiguous with Naruto on the floor, legs crossed, "here you go. Although this is a complete waste of time."

"Yeah, yeah, you love me," Naruto said, latching on to the pen and paper and scribbling down a title. The heading read 'N + S Have In Common…' and he soon began scribbling down all aforementioned points.

"Planet, academy, age, language, village…"

"You forgot hygiene," Sasuke added, looming over his shoulder just enough to still act aloof.

"Oh yeah." With that, he scribbled down 'hygiene' at the bottom of the list.

Sasuke tugged the pen and paper from Naruto's grasp and let his eyes trail neutrally down the list. "That's six things. Congratulations, we have as much in common as two complete strangers."

"Write humans," said Naruto, ignoring him. Sasuke rolled his eyes and wrote 'humans'. "I told you so," he said self-assuredly.

"Told me what? This does not constitute having a lot in common," he deadpanned. "To have a lot in common refers to stuff like personality traits and interests, hobbies…"

Naruto stroked his chin and squinted his eyes at Sasuke, evaluating him thoughtfully. "Music?"

"I don't appreciate your repetitive drivel, no."

"Books?"

"You can read?"

"Sports? Clothes? How much of a bastard you are?"

"You just called yourself a bastard," Sasuke pointed out, a smile twitching the corners of his lips.

Naruto threw up his hands, exasperated. "Well, I dunno! You're not exactly giving any star suggestions here, either! Oh, wait, how about our bond?"

"No, real things," Sasuke replied offhandedly.

Sasuke found it very difficult to express himself around Naruto, because Naruto was such an expressive person, and always knew exactly how to put what he was thinking and feeling into words. Since Naruto and all his unpredictability so often took Sasuke aback, often he found himself saying things he didn't really mean to say – or, rather, he found himself using the wrong words to say what he wanted to say. Right now was one of those times. Naruto's face fell, and he looked like he'd been slapped. Knowing he hadn't meant it in a hurtful way, Sasuke fumbled for something to say, something to show Naruto he'd misunderstood.

"I mean, as in… I mean it has to be something with a physical manifestation." Naruto gave him a flat look. "I mean, what is a bond, anyway? Like it has to be something you can touch, or fits into a general category…"

"Well if you can feel it I think it counts," said Naruto, a strange look on his face.

"But, it's not like you actually feel it, I mean—" Naruto's expression cut him off. Sasuke wasn't sure what to say.

Naruto huddled in on himself and pouted, staring at the wall. Sasuke huffed at his pettiness and turned away from him. He knew he didn't really have a right to be angry, or frustrated, or whatever (Sasuke wasn't great at deciphering his own emotions, let alone the emotions of others) and he should probably try and say something to reconcile with Naruto before this escalated into one of their frequent arguments. He knew this, yet he said nothing. The clock ticked an immeasurable amount of times before Naruto broke the thick silence.

"So you think we don't have a bond," he said dully, as if the words tasted foul in his mouth and he simply needed to get rid of them.

Sasuke made hopeless, mute gestures while Naruto simply stared at him.

"Well – I mean, come on – are you serious?"

"Yes." Naruto's level gaze didn't falter.

Sasuke made a garbled sound and shifted his legs onto his chest, attempting to find the right words. He wished he'd ignored Naruto, after all. Naruto was the only person who could make him feel like he was losing control of a situation, being a total jerk and self-righteous at the same time.

Patience thinning, Sasuke's tone was tetchy. "Look. What I mean is, it has to be something similar to what you said before, like music or… family, there you go, something morbid. Neither of us have a family," he snarled, scribbling it beneath Naruto's nearly illegible writing.

"You know what, I'm glad we don't have anything in common because that would mean I'm as difficult as you!" said Naruto, voice rising.

"Good, I'm glad, too, because then that would make me an ignorant, cantankerous little shit who has no idea how to run a village," he snapped in response.

Naruto's eyes filled with unfathomable rage and he opened his mouth to reply, but stopped himself. They both fell silent again, looking at opposite sides of the room out of spite for the other and exasperation they were both beginning to regret. Neither of them moved. The air was thick with tension and all Naruto could think about was how much he wanted to punch Sasuke in the face.

Sasuke watched the sun brush the horizon, ready to take its leave. His furrowed brows eventually thinned out as he watched Konoha's serenity and found himself wondering what they were arguing about. Glancing at Naruto, he saw the man was inspecting the woven loops of the carpet as if they held highly informative material. Honestly, there wasn't anything wrong with Naruto wanting them to have a little common ground, so what was he so grumpy about? Sasuke's eyes softened and he begrudgingly grasped the pen between his fingers, writing 'bond' on the bottom of the list in his elegant, curved scrawl.

Naruto looked down at the paper, then at Sasuke from the corner of his eye, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge him. He nestled his grinning face into a pair of folded arms in an attempt to conceal his giddiness.

"Stop smiling, you idiot," Sasuke said, looking disinterestedly out the window.

Naruto's smile grew larger.

-x-

_I'm well aware that our planet hosts more than three billion people, however in Ancient Japan, and furthermore the Narutoverse, I doubt this was the case. Therefore, Sasuke's belief that there were approximately three billion people residing on their planet is a valid statement, thank you and goodnight. I don't care how wrong I might be. (Also thank you guys for reading my dumb thing.)_


	4. Poems

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I hate Sasuke.

I hate that he is good at everything and he doesn't even have to practice first.

I hate that everyone seems to love him just because he's good-looking.

I hate the smug look that he gives me when he knows he's right and I'm wrong.

I hate that he smirks when I mess up.

I hate that he always has a good comeback that leaves me with nothing to say and I end up looking stupid.

I hate that he doesn't care that people admire him. I would give anything for people to look at me the way they look at Sasuke.

Most of all, I hate that I want to be like him.

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I wonder about Sasuke.

I wonder why whenever girls ask him on a date, he says no, when clearly most of them are very pretty.

I wonder why he never lets anybody visit him at his home.

I wonder why I never see his parents.

I wonder why he doesn't like to celebrate his birthday.

I wonder why he glares at me so much. I wonder why I glare back.

I wonder why his skin is so pale when we live in one of the sunniest hidden villages.

I wonder why he always has bags under his eyes.

Most of all, I wonder why I wonder about him.

.

.

.

I'm starting to understand him (almost).

I understand why he is so determined to kill his brother (I didn't know about his clan).

I understand why he is always so aloof (he doesn't trust people enough to let them get close).

I understand why he finds it difficult to rely on others (and always feels the need to take matters into his own hands).

I understand why he thinks nobody understands (because nobody bothers to try).

Most of all, I understand why I feel connected to him (we're both so, so alone).

.

.

.

I think Sasuke is okay.

I used to hate that everyone thought Sasuke was attractive, but now I think it's okay.

I used to hate that Sasuke was so good at everything, but he works hard, so it's okay.

I used to hate how Sasuke smirked when I made a mistake, but it's in a friendly way, so it's okay.

Most of all, I used to resent that I aspire to be like Sasuke, but he wants to be like me too, so I think it's okay.

.

.

.

I know Sasuke.

I know that Sasuke enjoys spending time with us, even if he's too proud to admit it.

I know that even though Sasuke has sworn to kill his older brother, he still has feelings for Itachi despite all the reasons he shouldn't, and that just makes him angrier.

I know that Sasuke pretends to be tough so people don't see how vulnerable he is.

I know Sasuke is always on the defensive because sometimes he's insecure enough to believe what people say.

I know that, despite what people think, Sasuke is unsure just like everyone else.

.

.

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I like Sasuke.

I like that Sasuke always speaks his mind.

I like that Sasuke isn't afraid to tell the truth.

I like that Sasuke pretends he doesn't care about Team 7, because it's fun to tease him when he accidentally admits he does.

I like that Sasuke encourages me when we spar.

I like that Sasuke stands up for me.

I like that Sasuke pretends he doesn't enjoy pulling pranks with me and then doesn't care when we get caught. I especially like when we draw moustaches on the wanted posters.

I like that Sasuke always has my back.

I like that whenever Sasuke is around, I feel a little better.

.

.

.

I love Sasuke.

I love that Sasuke treats me like a person, and not like what's inside me, even though he knows.

I love that Sasuke doesn't care what people think.

I love that Sasuke isn't ashamed to be seen with me.

I love the sound of Sasuke's voice.

I love Sasuke too much.

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.

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I hate Sasuke.

I hate that he left me behind.

I hate that he pretends I don't mean anything to him.

I hate that he means something to me.

I hate that I'll never be able to rest until he's back by my side.

I hate him so, so much.

I love Sasuke. But I hate him.

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End file.
